Galaxies and Quasars Author:William J. Kaufmann The largest and most luminous objects known, galaxies and quasars were discovered only in the past fifty [sic] years. Yet they have already helped astronomers explore some fundamental questions about the universe: Is space infinite? How and when was the universe born, and how and when will it die? What does our own Milky Way Galaxy look li... more »ke to an observer in distant space? Why can't we see the possibly limitless number of stars actually present in the night sky? Why do Einstein's theories work better than Newton's on a cosmic scale? How do black holes infinitely warp space and time? Galaxies and Quasars suggests some fascinating answers.
Written clearly and engagingly, the book is enhanced by numerous photographs and drawings, as well as historical anecdotes (a nineteenth-century experiment using an orchestra of trumpeters on a railroad flatcar to demonstrate the Doppler effect, for instance) and imaginative analogies to everyday experiences (including an explanation of the expanding universe in terms of a rising raisin cake). Galaxies and Quasars will intrigue any reader interested in the progress of science on an enormous, perhaps infinite, scale.« less